Pic Of The Moment: How That Republican Tax Giveaway Is Working Out For Americans So Far

[EarlG]

Taxpayers, You've Been Scammed

Follow @demunderground

[marble falls]

1. This is why they call it "trickle down".

[FakeNoose]

16. I'll put this bluntly: there is no trickle and it doesn't go down

[marble falls]

18. I've always thought whatever effect I ever got from trickle down it felt like a figurative...

being pissed down on from those economically above me.

Even David Stockman has admitted it could never work.

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/trickle_down.htm

"Trickle Down" economics was a "Trojan Horse"

David Stockman
David Stockman

In the 1980’s Ronald Reagan ushered in a new era in American economics as he cut the top tax bracket from 70% down to 50% and then down again to 28%. In order to get support for doing this from the people, and also from politicians, a very crafty set of lies were produced. As David Stockman, then Reagan’s budget director, put it: giving small tax cuts across the board to all brackets was simply a “Trojan Horse” that was used to get approval for the huge top tax bracket cuts. “Trickle-Down” was a term used by Republicans that meant giving tax cuts to the rich. Stockman explains that:

"It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down,' so the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down.' Supply-side is 'trickle-down' theory."

"Yes, Stockman conceded, when one stripped away the new rhetoric emphasizing across-the-board cuts, the supply-side theory was really new clothes for the unpopular doctrine of the old Republican orthodoxy."

"…the Reagan coalition prevailed again in the House and Congress passed the tax-cut legislation with a final frenzy of trading and bargaining. Again, Stockman was not exhilarated by the victory. On the contrary, it seemed to leave a bad taste in his mouth, as though the democratic process had finally succeeded in shocking him by its intensity and its greed. Once again, Stockman participated in the trading -- special tax concessions for oil -- lease holders and real-estate tax shelters, and generous loopholes that virtually eliminated the corporate income tax. Stockman sat in the room and saw it happen."

"'Do you realize the greed that came to the forefront?' Stockman asked with wonder. 'The hogs were really feeding. The greed level, the level of opportunism, just got out of control.'"

<snip>

[FakeNoose]

19. Yes Stockman laughed his ass off on that one

They all laughed. He knew what he was doing.

[marble falls]

20. I think he was maybe the last true believer, I've heard him interviewed on NPR and he....

sounded genuinely contrite. Nobody ever uses his name in the news and I don't believe he's on the Republican rubber chicken circuit. He claims he didn't figure in the absolutely total greed of the wealthy.

[liberalnarb]

24. More accurate...

[yuiyoshida]

32. The French Revolution came about because of Rich Assholes like this...

[liberalnarb]

33. Cuban and Russian too.

[malthaussen]

2. Emphasis on "trickle."

But let us be reasonable, nobody really believes "trickle down" at this point except those who will benefit from it. Unfortunately, that includes a good number of our legislators.

-- Mal

[Initech]

3. Hey republicans! How's that MAGA thing working out for you?

[yuiyoshida]

4. Its making America great again for people at the tippy top

who have the most money over every one.

[IronLionZion]

22. These Trump voters cheer stock highs, but aren't invested

you can't even begin to understand the mindset of a Trumpanzee.

[Botany]

5. Krugman

<So you go out for dinner with a wealthy acquaintance. “I’ll take care of everything,” he says, and orders
you a hamburger. Then he orders himself an expensive steak and a bottle of wine, which he doesn’t share.
And when the waiter comes with the check, he points at you and says, “Charge it to his credit card.”>

[bronxiteforever]

6. This + 100000

[Gothmog]

7. K&R

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. Great chart Earl!! Tweeted

[djacq]

9. Zero Sum

The Haves and the Have Nots

[dalton99a]

10. Kick

[yonder]

11. just a simple question:

Where am I wrong here? Don't beat me up too bad.

If these folks continue with their stock buyback frenzy instead of promised reinvestment, when the economy does go tits up again, as it will, won't they be in actually worse shape than before? Of course, we would be worse off too, but wouldn't they be holding a proportionally bigger empty bag than the rest of us living close to the bone? Maybe what I'm getting at is we would have less to lose, less further to fall, wouldn't we?

All the boats sink, but the bigger ones sink further out to sea, in deeper water. The smaller boats make a bigger mess perhaps? Collectively cause more damage? I may have answered my own question, just now. Dunno

Simple analogy from a simple guy I guess, but it's an honest question and not a wind-up. I'm just having trouble getting my arms around this plus I've not had coffee yet. I hesitate to post this before I do, but here goes.

[SergeStorms]

15. A simple lesson about Corporatists.

1. 'All profits are privatized'. That means that all the profits go to the people on top.

2. 'All losses are socialized'. That means any losses are spread between the little people at the bottom. The people on the top are hurt a little bit, but the lions share of the losses are passed on to all the little folks at the bottom. For example, the Mortgage crisis during the Bush administration, and the S&L crisis during the Reagan administration. Both of these financial crisis were cause by 'deregulation', which is what Trump has done again (like every one of his Republican predecessors), and the accumulation of massive deficits. The Republicans always expect a different result from these fatal flaws in thinking.

I hope that's helped. You're right in worrying about what will happen when there's yet another financial crisis. I hope I've explained the dynamics of this right-wing scheme to you. There are many more right-wing schemes, but we'll take these one at a time.

[yonder]

23. thanks for your reply - back on track here

I woke up this morning feeling a little more uneasy than usual and went exploring my personal stream-of-consciousness jungle when I should have stayed in camp. Certainly before coffee. Coincidentally, your points 1 and 2 are simplified in a bumper sticker on my truck, which I should've peeked at before rambling off.

It's doubtful I'm the only one who feels they are living in that well-known Yeats poem and lately his "rough beast" seems to be advancing ever closer. I just keep wondering why the red-hats insist on shitting the nest by scorching the earth? We ARE the hand that feeds them. They don't get it. When is enough, enough? Or, to paraphrase a quote by (I don't remember) "When everyone is content, everyone is content". Thanks again

[SergeStorms]

26. No problem.

I'm almost 70 and I'm still learning about about what goes on in these people's minds. Greed, is almost always the answer. There's never enough for these people, and they'll never learn to be satisfied with that attitude. They'll never know the amazing pleasure of being 'satisfied'. What a pointless, empty life they lead, always chasing the dollar.

[7962]

29. You cant compare the bank buyouts with a normal company failure. The "rich" will get kicked too.

I have 1st hand experience with this. A former close friend & her husband, very wealthy couple, were going thru a divorce. He desperately didn't want her to get any of his company stock, so he agreed to give her their 1M house in Ireland. She went along.
He worked for Enron.
He lost what HAD been worth 7M in stock. He now lives a lifestyle nowhere near what he used to live. And he deserved every bit of the shame and embarassment that he got. He was a real dick.

When a company goes under, the only way the "rich' aren't hurt is if they get out quicker than the others. Plenty of examples out there of that NOT being the case.

[SergeStorms]

30. Well....

we were discussing the economy in general, not specific corporations.

With a company like Enron....even though your friends probably had no direct responsibility in it's demise, a lot of people knew something was amiss with that company. Many people should have known something was up, but many people ignored it, just like many people do when they're on the upside of any roller-coaster ride. Enron got in trouble because there were some people who were paying attention to Enron's "success", and started looking a little closer into the reasons why they were so 'unbelievably successful'.

Anyway, apples and oranges. Have a good one.

[Marcuse]

12. NT

[apkhgp]

13. Scammed...

Burglarized, Conned, Robbed, Taken advantage of, and Victimized

And the Right Wing says Democrats are just crying from the loss of the Election. What a bunch of morons.

[SergeStorms]

14. Amen.

Of course we all knew this before the tax scam was enacted, but Trump's cultists still don't realize it and when they finally DO........well, they'll blame it all on the Democrats. That's how Republican policies are designed to work. Of course anyone with the intelligence to look beneath the surface would see that it's still a failure of Republican policies, but anyone with enough intelligence to look beneath the surface would be known as a 'Democrat', and not a Republican.

The Trump cult believes all the lies because they want to believe all the lies. Willfully ignorant, and seemingly proud of it. I'll never understand it, but if I did understand it, I'd be a Republican, wouldn't I?

[FakeNoose]

17. The Trumpies believe anything Faux News tells them to, it's that simple

[IronLionZion]

21. As Trump's idiotic trade policies and Treasury bond buying causes dips in the stock market

these companies will schedule buybacks during those dips, further helping the investor class who have enough money to stay in the market and also buy dips. Buy low, sell high, screw everyone else who can't do it. The story of Trump's life.

Damn it

[liberalnarb]

25. Don't forget the mass layoffs that resulted as well.

[Roy Rolling]

27. Corporations Will Pay Even More

Stock buybacks when the market is at record highs means companies are rewarding investors by paying them a price that ensures a profit. In return, companies hold their stock on the books as an asset.

When the stock market comes crashing down and the value of that stock plummets, so does the book value of the company.

This process is another scam to pass wealth to the richest stockholders and investors from a company. When the company suffers, the rich have already cashed out and left the building.

[7962]

28. Buybacks usually also raise stock prices, so if you or a fund you're in owns the stock, its good.

I'm hardly a "wealthy stockholder". Anyone with a 401k or other fund can benefit from this.
As opposed to the money never coming back and no one gets anything.

[yuiyoshida]

31. YOU KNOW...the FRENCH REVOLUTION HAPPENED BECAUSE OF RICH PEOPLE stepping on the Poor.

[mainer]

34. Our CPA says well owe thousands more

Because of state and property taxes we can no longer deduct. The Blue state penalty. So yeah, we got screwed by this tax bill.